You don’t stand a chance Mally! I'm asking my Mum if she can get some info. She had a friend who used to work at the St Austell brewery and kept her supplied with brewers yeast. She has many friends who are publicans/pub owners (wise woman I know).

Actually I’ll pass on any tips as I can’t send beer across the pond so I’m not in the competition. I'll ask her if people actually like that beer too, for you.

Last edited by GuingesRock on 15 Mar 2013, 16:45, edited 2 times in total.

Just called my Mum. She knows the manageress of St. Austell Brewery (of course) Vicky Bethel, although she thinks she might have handed it over to her sons now. It’s her family any way that runs it. She doesn’t see her that often, and my Mum says that “those things are a closely guarded secret”.

Tribute is very popular in the pubs in Cornwall, and most people drink it. My brother in law (the “old rocker” as he calls himself) often drinks it, although he prefers Doom Bar which is a more expensive cask ale.

If I can get any information I might try to make either Tribute or Doom Bar, for old times’ sake. You reminded me that I started brewing so I could have English beer in Canada.

I’d be really interested in your progress Mally. Would you post your recipe or PM it to me? And I’ll help if I can.

I’ve been Googling Sharp’s Doom Bar and came up with the goods below. I don’t have the skills or experience to turn the info into a viable recipe. I’m too timid to ask Mally or Yeasty to put it into Biabacus. I don’t have the EOBV-A so I’m too scared to ask PP.
Mally’s Tribute looks like it’s a go then if Yeasty ran off with it. So I'm going to make that one, I think.

If I remember right, I think I liked Tribute better than the Doom Bar any way. But don't tell anyone I said that. I think there might be a few ounces of emperors clothes thrown in at the Doom Bar flameout. There should be a section in BIABacus for that. That one ingredient makes such a huge difference to any beer.

No more foul play (stealing each other’s recipes and stuff) or I’ll have my mother report you both to the St. Austell Brewery

Doom Bar Bitter is named after an infamous sandbank at the mouth of the Camel Estuary in North Cornwall.

Where the river Camel meets the Atlantic Ocean on Cornwall’s rugged north coast, a sand bank, centuries old, known as the Doom Bar protects and calms this beautiful estuary. Sailors respect the Doom Bar knowing it to be unforgiving if met with haste or arrogance.

Doom Bar the beer embodies many characteristics which make it worthy to carry the name of this natural wonder. It’s distinctive aroma and balanced flavour set it apart from other beers taking unsuspecting first time drinkers by surprise with its moreish appeal. Doom Bar has achieved international cult status, is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK and the best selling cask beer in the South West of England.

Taste Notes Stuart Howe Head Brewer
“The aroma of Doom Bar combines an accomplished balance of spicy resinous hop, inviting sweet malt and delicate roasted notes. The mouth feel is a perfectly balanced and complex blend of succulent dried fruit, lightly roasted malty notes and a subtle yet assertive bitterness. The bitterness remains into the finish with dry fruity notes which implore the drinker to go back for more.”

So, there you have it. an someone please let me know the breakdown of malt and hop additions please.

Was lucky enough to have a trip down to Sharps in the week, spent a good amount of time chatting to Stuart Howe about the brewing process. Clearly the email above sheds a lot of light, but there was some other key info he shared :

Water - very soft, proud of their use of Cornish water
Malt - A lot of Simpsons Pale Malt, Crystal 120'l and 1000'l black malt around the place
Mashing - Mash low! 64c tops was what i recall he said, he also commented that my 67c Pale ale mash temp was "too f*ing high!"
Hops - Hops mostly added late on, he said their three main hops were Aurora, Northdown and Hallertau which they balance depending on harvest etc, but there was lots of Perle around also.
Yeast - Its the old Morrells Brewery yeast, they are the sole users/holders of it now. I think he said it was a whitbread derivative, which makes sense as he said it was highly flocculent.
Fermentation - hot! 25c was what he told me, which makes sense why the beer tastes so dam fruity! 5 days then 7 conditioning, obviously thats done in huge volumes so not much help. But they do use square fermenters (like Black sheep) and condition under pressure.

I think we covered most things in conversation so if you have any questions i'm sure I can help.

But I can't praise the Stuart and the brewery enough, they are very very committed to the quality and consistency of their beer, they take it all very seriously, especially Stuart who works 7days a week. As for the take over by MolsonCoors, I don't anticipate any issues, they want to expand the brewery and grow Doom Bar nationally, no brewing will be done elsewhere.

Hope that helps people recreate their favourite drop. Personally i find it too fruity as an ale, but thats just my preference.

Ed

Last edited by GuingesRock on 16 Mar 2013, 06:09, edited 2 times in total.

Award-winning Tribute was first brewed to commemorate the 1999 solar eclipse. Today, the popularity of this great-tasting 4.2% abv beer has spread nationwide; with Tribute now being voted as one of the UK's top-ten premium cask ales.

Made with over 150 years of brewing experience, using specially grown Cornish Gold Malt, it's easy to see why Tribute is the South West's favourite ale. So take the time to browse our site where you will find information on Awards and Sponsorship, as well as our on-line shop so you can discover the great taste of Tribute for yourself.

Tribute is brewed by St Austell Brewery and its popularity has grown tremendously in the last year. It was chosen as the South West's top tipple in the Best of British Beer Awards, following a ‘beer election' in pubs across the area by industry watchdog Cask Marque and the Daily Telegraph. Tribute also beat off competition from more than 250 beers from all 58 South West breweries to be elected ‘Supreme Champion' at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) South West Beer Festival. In 2010 Tribute was awarded with a Silver Medal in the Best Bitters category for the 2010 Great British Beer Festival.
As if that wasn't enough, head brewer Roger Ryman was named UK Brewer of the Year and the Brewery announced it was introducing a second daily brewing shift for the first time in its 156-year history to meet soaring demand for its ales, and particularly Tribute, which has seen sales in the South West and across the UK rise 20% compared to 2009. Finally the bottled version of Tribute was voted in the Worlds Top 50 Beers in the International Beer Challenge for the second year running.
Previous years awards include the prestigious Supreme Champion Ale of Cornwall award from CAMRA at the Falmouth CAMRA Beer Festival 2004.

In 2010 Tribute was awarded with a silver medal in the Best Bitters category of the Great British Beer Festival. In same festival fellow beers from St Austell also won awards. Proper Job received a bronze medal in the golden beers category whilst Admirals Ale was voted Supreme Champion bottled beer.

Last edited by GuingesRock on 16 Mar 2013, 07:12, edited 2 times in total.

Mally, I started adapting your recipe for my equipment, my strange brewing methods (free range mash and fermenting in the kettle), and I wanted a two Corny batch. Then I made some changes to make the colour and IBUs the same as the St. Austell Tribute. Do you think I have screwed up the taste in the process???

I haven't done the brew yet, just finished my Pilsner that I planned months ago. Though tribute is next on my list.
I can't really say whether your changes will improve/make worse or no difference to be honest.
I have researched the ingredients from many forums and picked what I thought seemed the most liked/nearest to the original.

So as I haven't brewed it yet, I do not feel fully qualified to pass comment. Which is also true for the yeast of choice, I saw many had used 04 & 05, so as you already have it, I say give it a go.

What I have done though is sourced a bottle of Tribute so I can do a side by side when mine is ready, maybe then i can give a better verdict on the recipe.

If you have managed to brew yours before me, then please let me know if it is how you remember it.

Good Luck.

G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life

BrewBagMan, as I understand it, Canada is the second largest country in the world (behind Russia) with a population of 33 million. The tiny country of England has a population of 53 million.

In Canada you can go to a beautiful place in the country, or a lake, or some wilderness and you will be the only person for miles, or even hundreds of miles. From what I remember of England, when you get to a beautiful place it’s swarming with families, each with their average 2 ½ kids and a Golden Lab.

Why the background? Well, I ordered my supplies for my Tribute beer last weekend, but I ordered them from Ontario. Not too bad. I’m on the east coast, and the Ontario supplier is about 1/3 of the way across the country. I ordered them by Canada Post Express! And paid $5 extra for that. Because I have the express service, I believe, and please don’t disillusion me, that as we speak, there is a man in a small van tearing in this direction with my Tribute beer supplies, driving day and night for 5 days, in order for me to receive them this weekend.

There’s no harm dreaming. I have my big pot all cleaned up, polished and shining, and I am waiting for the supplies to arrive. You can feel the excitement and tension in the air around here. It’s that thick!

BrewBagMan wrote:Well when your delivery man arrives I'm sure he'll have a hellish thirst on him

He just made it, so I am brewing the Tribute this weekend. He didn't stop for a pint or anything. He just dropped the box off at the post office, and my secretary picked it up. I thought that was really antisocial of him. Probably just getting the heck out of it so I didn't ask him to go on another run to Ontario for more supplies.

The LHBS didn't have all the stuff I needed.

Last edited by GuingesRock on 05 Apr 2013, 21:32, edited 2 times in total.